Winter brings short days and cold nights. Traditionally, winter is a time for evaluation, for resting, for going within, for reviewing the previous year, and planning the next. During this time, many of us make our New Year’s resolutions.

The seasons exist within us and we are intimately connected with the cycles of the earth. When we align our lives with the energy of each season, we leverage unseen forces in the universe that govern the rhythm and cycles of life on this planet (see The Astrology of Time by Gary Goldschneider).

Agricultural communities naturally understand the seasonal cycles of planting, cultivating, harvesting, and resting. In our technological, hypernetworked, information age we can telecommute to work, tune into 24-hour news, and push ourselves into a non-stop lifestyle that feels like a videotape viewed on fast-forward. Events rush into, through, and out of our lives with little reflection.

Do you feel that time is something to be managed? Or savored? When we live in the present moment—in the eternal now—we naturally know when to turn inward and rest. When we take off our watches, put down our datebooks, take a deep breath and trust in our intuition, we know exactly what to do next. (This knowing is often our first thought or impulse, the subsequent conversation in our heads is mind-chatter and second guessing.) Go within, find your silence, and make use of the “Pause” button on your VCR of life. It will make the “Play” time that much sweeter.

Peace to all beings,
Tony Cecala, Ph.D.

“Things turn out best when they
happen at the right moment.”
—Gary Goldschneider

“The Master gives himself up to
whatever the moment brings.”
—Zen saying